Agencies are being directed to cut service contracting costs by 15 percent as a part of the Obama Administration’s Campaign to Cut Government Waste. The announcement was made yesterday at a White House Forum on Accountability in Federal Contracting.
Jeffrey Zients, federal chief performance officer and deputy OMB director noted that steep hikes in contracting costs over the past decade, coupled with today’s challenging budget climate, have made the cutbacks necessary.
There was no roadmap given to agencies on how to make the cuts, or what programs should be given priority. When asked about this, Dan Gordon, administer of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, emphasized that the process should be based on thoughtful assessment. “It is not a call for insourcing and not a numbers game,” he noted.
Success stories were highlighted, however, and Gorden emphasized the importance of working with industry and building relationships, as well as looking for cost-savings opportunities with vendors used frequently. The importance of avoiding duplicate contracts and maintaining a better trained acquisition workforce was also noted.
Officials were quick to steer the direction of the announcement away from 2009’s insourcing initiatives, but did reiterate the desire that inherently governmental functions continue to be carried out by federal government workers. Zients cited difficulties in determining which workers are contractors in federal offices, with particular concern for instances where contractors are managing other contractors within federal offices.
Officials from agencies with contract-savings success stories were on-hand for the forum, including the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Department of the Navy, which highlighted one continuity of services contract which saved $1 billion by retaining intellectual property created under the contract.
